Jeb Bush takes the gloves off at RedState
ATLANTA — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has suffered from criticism that he has not fought back against those who sought to diminish his campaign. At the RedState Gathering on Saturday, Bush delivered passionate remarks and named his enemies: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Bush went after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her unwillingness to take a stance on whether to construct the Keystone XL pipeline. At a town hall event on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Clinton avoided providing a yes or no answer about whether she would support construction of the pipeline.
"She can't now have an opinion on that — really?" Bush said. "I know what her opinion is. She's opposed to it. I'm for it."
During the presidential debate on Thursday, conservatives gathered at the RedState watch party vehemently booed Bush. A few even shouted obscenities as he spoke about immigration and Common Core educational standards. But he received a standing ovation from a majority in the audience on Saturday and got loud applause for taking on Trump. Bush said Trump ought to apologize for the pejorative comments he made about Fox News personality Megyn Kelly.
"Do we want to win? Do we want to insult 53 percent of all voters?" Bush said. "What Donald Trump said is wrong. That is not how you win elections. Worse yet, that is not how you bring people together to solve problems."
Bush did not draw the largest crowd or the most applause of the weekend, but he appeared to turn a crowd that was openly hostile toward him on Thursday into one that gave him a standing ovation on Saturday. Bush's pitch to activists emphasized his desire to work for the GOP nomination, so as to dissuade conservatives of the notion that he would inherit the position on top of the Republican Party in 2016.
"I can promise you this, if it's about delivering great speeches, I'm not going to be president probably," Bush said. "I can do OK; I don't have a self-esteem problem. ... We can't just keep electing people that give great speeches; 2008 is the living proof of that isn't it?"
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